Knitting-machine.



PATBNTED OCT. 24:, 1905.

I F. LA ROCK. KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1905.

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PATENTED OCT. 24;, 1905.

F, LA ROCK KNITTING MACHINE APPLICATION FILED JULY 10, 1905.

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Witnesses TTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK LA ROOK, OF OSWEGO, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO FREDERIO CONDE, OF OSWEGO, NEW YORK.

KNITTING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 24, 1905.

Application filed July 10, 1905. Serial No. 269,032.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, FREDERICK LA Rock, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oswego, in the county of Oswego, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Knitting-lVIaehines,of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

The invention relates to knitting-machines of the type employed in the manufacture of fabric suitable for use for forming articles of underwear, and relates particularly to devices whereby such knitting machines may be caused to operate to produce an open-work or perforated fabricthat is, a fabric hav ing at regular intervals openings therethrough of such size as to present the appearance of perforations.

While the invention is herein shown as applied to a circular machine, it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited absolutely thereto, as it might be applied to other types of machines.

With the above-described object and others hereinafter described in view my invention consists in the construction and combination of elements hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, .and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of a knitting-machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side View, partly in section, showing the selectorwheel and presser disk or wheel. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view on line 3 3 of Fig. 2 looking upward. Fig. dis a partial plan View of the selector-wheel on an enlarged scale, the top plate being partly broken away. Fig. 5 is a detail View showing one of the push-bars in perspective, and Fig. 6 is a detail View showing the relation of the push-bars and the slots of the selector-wheel.

Similar characters of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

The spring-beard-needle machine is of the usual type and is provided with the usual mechanism for supplying thread, sinker-s,

push-backs, and the like, and at one side thereof is arranged the mechanism forming the subject of the present invention.

A standard 10, secured to the bed or main frame, is provided with an opening for the reception of a vertically-disposed stationary spindle 11, that is firmly secured in place by a set-screw 12, as shown in Fig. Q.

Mounted loosely on the spindle 10 is a disk 15, to which is rigidly secured a second disk 16 of somewhat smaller diameter. These two disks may be integral, if desired. The large disk is provided with peripherally-disposed slotted teeth 17, the width and pitch of which vary in accordance with the machine and the design to be produced. In the present instance the pitch of the teeth is equal to the pitch of three of the needles, and the width of each tooth is approximately equal to the width of the spaces between the teeth. The toothed disk is arranged to mesh with the needles and is revolved thereby, and each tooth has a slot 17 radial with respect to the axis of the disk, the outer end of the slot being tapered or flaring, as shown at 17 to facilitate the entrance of two needles. The teeth are so arranged with respect to the needles that the needles, being divided into groups of four, marked a, Z), 0, and (Z, needles a and Z) will enter the space between the teeth and needles 0 and (Z will be received in the slot, and thus brought into alinement with each other in a direction radial of the needle-cylinder, the needle (Z being the inner with ref erence to the selector-wheel.

The loosely-mounted disk 16, which rotates with the toothed selector-disk 15, is provided on its upper face with a plurality of radial slots 20 of a number equal to and in vertical alinement with the slots 17. In each of these slots is a push-bar 21, the outer end of which is inclined and terminates in a slightly sharpened or reduced point 22, that is adapted to spear through the loop or stitch on needle (Z (the inner one of the two needles which are in the slot 17) and force or carry it over needle 0, as hereinafter described.

is a presser disk or wheel having its shaft 41 journaled in a bracket 42 within the line of the needle-cylinder and adapted to bear upon the fabric to force the loops or stitches downward below the beards of the needles.

43 is a needle-presser wheel or disk mounted to rotate on a vertical axis outside the line of the needle-cylinder and provided on its periphery with presser-teeth 44 so spaced as to operate on every fourth needle to press its beard inward, so that it will not engage the stitch or loop when the fabric is raised.

Each bar 21 is provided with an upward-extending lug 24:, arranged to enter a cam-slot 25 in a stationary cam-disk 26, that is rigidly secured to the upper end of the spindle 11 by means of a set-screw 27, the latter serving to lock the disk in place after proper adjustment. The disk 26 is provided with an adjustable block 29, forming the principal actuating portion of the cam, and said block is arranged in a radial recess in the lower face of the disk and is held by a set-screw 30, which extends through a radial slot 31 in the disk to permit the necessary adjustment of the cam. The cam-block 29 controls the extent of projection of the push-bars 21 beyond the periphery of the disk, and the circumferential adjustment of the cam-disk controls the time of operation, it being understood, of course, that the push-bars are normally within the peripheral line of the disk and are not projected until after the operation of the teeth 17 to bring the needles one behind the other.

In the operation of the device, the needles being in the position above described that is, the upper ends of needles (0 and I) being in the space between two of the slotted teeth 17 and needles 0 and (Z being in the slot 17 and in the same radial line, the thread having been previously looped over the needles the pushbar 21 is caused to move outward with reference to the axis of the selector-wheel, so that its point 22 enters the loop or stitch on needle (Z and carries or pushes it outward over the upper end of needle 0. As the needle-cylinder continues its rotation the push-bar is withdrawn, and by the action of the presser disk or wheel e20, which is located in rear of the selector-wheel, this loop or disk is pushed down over needle 0. The presser disk or wheel 40 is so located with reference to the upper ends of the needles that it presses or draws the loops or stitches downward below the beards of the needles. As the loops or stitches are then drawn upward the needlepresser wheel 43, which is located in rear of the presser disk or wheel 40, acts to press needle (Z to close its beard into the eye of the needle, so that its loop or stitch is transferred to needle 0 and it is left without thread, thus causing an opening or perforation to be left in the fabric.

By varying the arrangement of the presserteeth 44 on the periphery of the needle-presser wheel 43 the design of the fabric may be varied, for instance, by forming the periphery of the wheel with alternate sets of presserteeth 44 and plain teeth 45, the latter merely engaging the needles, so that the presserwheel will be rotated without pressing any of the needles, a fabric having alternate strips of perforated or open-work fabric and of plain or non-perforated fabric will be formed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a knitting-machine, the combination of a selector-disk adapted to be rotated by the needles, the selector-disk being provided with peripheral teeth adapted to act on the needles to bring two of them into the same radial line, and positively-acting means carried by the selector disk for pushing the loop or stitch ofi the inner needle onto the outer one.

2. In a circular-knitting machine, the combination of a selector-disk,mounted on an axis parallel with the axis of the needle-cylinder and adapted to be rotated by the needles, the selector-disk being provided with peripheral teeth adapted to act on the needles to bring two of them into the same radial line, and radially-movable means carried by the selector-disk for pushing the loop or stitch off the inner needle onto the outer one.

3. In a circular-knitting machine, the combination of aselector-disk, mounted on an axis parallel with the axis of the needle-cylinder, and adapted to be rotated by the needles, the selector-disk being provided with peripheral teeth adapted to act on the needles to bring two of them into the same radial line, radially-movable means carried by the selectordisk for pushing the loop or stitch off the inner needle onto the outer one, and means for forcing or drawing the loops or stitches downward on the needles.

t. In a circular-knitting machine, the combination of a selector-disk, mounted on an axis parallel with the axis of the needle-cylinder, and adapted to be rotated by the needles, the selector-disk being provided with peripheral teeth adapted to act on the needles to bring two of them into the same radial line, radially-movable means carried by the selector for pushing the loop or stitch off the inner needle onto the outer one, means for forcing or drawing the loops or stitches downward on the needles, and a needle-pressing device for closing the beard of the needle from which the loop or stitch was pushed.

5. A needle-cylinder, in combination with a revoluble disk having slots or recesses for the reception of selected needles, push-bars in alinement with said slots, and provided with projecting lugs, and an adjustable cam-disk having a slot for the reception of said lugs.

6. A needle-cylinder, in combination with a revoluble disk having slots or recesses for the reception of selected needles, push-bars in alinement with said slots, having sharpened points adapted to enter a loop or stitch on one of the needles, and provided with projecting lugs, and an adjustable cam-disk having a slot for the reception of said lugs.

7. In a circular-knitting machine, the combination of a selector-disk,mounted on an axis parallel with the axis of the needle-cylinder, and arranged to be rotated by the needles, the

selector-disk being provided on its periphery consisting of a presser-wheel having alternate IO with teeth adapted to act upon the free ends of sets of presser-teeth and non-pressing teeth. the needles to bring two of them into the same In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in radial line, radialiy-mogable means carried presence of two witnesses.

by t 1e selectorisk, a apted to spear the stitch and force it over one of the needles onto FhEDERHJK LA the other, means for forcing or drawing the Witnesses:

loops or stitches downward on the needles, G-Eo. Norms BURT,

and means for pressing certain of the needles, GATHARINE AXTELL. 

